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Springboks
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Leicester see off Dirt Trackers
Friday, November 06
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English club champions Leicester stunned World Cup holders South Africa 22-17 at Welford Road on Friday.
Leicester, playing without six England internationals and nine first-choice players, rallied from an early 8-0 deficit to lead 16-11 by halftime. Scrumhalf Ben Youngs added two more penalties in a 17-point haul to make it 22-11, then limited the Springboks to just two penalties in the last 15 minutes of their European rugby tour opener.The hosts repulsed a sustained Springboks rally inside their 22 in the last minutes, finally forcing a knockon by winger Odwa Ndungane to seal one of rugby's great upsets.
"I don't think I've ever seen (a South Africa pack) as bad as that, especially from a coaching perspective. We were given a bit of a lesson at the scrums," assistant coach Dick Muir said.
"Hats off to the Tigers. They were incredibly strong in that department so we've got to go back to the drawing board."
Ndungane was one of eight players who were part of the champion Tri-Nations team, but they ran into a defense inspired by a record home crowd, a sellout 24,000 with the opening of a new stand.
Ruan Pienaar's first of four penalties was added to soon after when his grubber kick into the left corner was pounced on by winger Jongi Nokwe for 8-0.
After a Youngs penalty in reply, winger Johne Murphy began a Leicester counterattack in his half, and midfield prospect Manu Tuilagi fed winger Lucas Amorosino to finish off between the posts. Youngs' conversion put Leicester up 10-8, and in front for good.
With the home pack in charge against a Springboks test front five, Youngs booted over two more shots at the posts, while Pienaar finished the entertaining half with a penalty.
Two more penalties earned by the Leicester scrum were converted by Youngs for 22-11.
Pienaar didn't have another penalty attempt until there were 15 minutes left, making it, then hitting the post with another shot soon after. The Boks flyhalf kicked another penalty to close the gap to five, but that was all Leicester was prepared to concede as the defense stepped up.
"Our scrum was immense and Geoff Parling was superb in the front row," Leicester coach Richard Cockerill said.
"Rugby can get quite scientific in its analysis these days.
Sometimes you just need 15 blokes to come here and roll their sleeves up. The scientists can't quantify that. And that's what we did tonight."
After the Springboks play France next week, they return to England to meet Premiership leader Saracens, then face Italy and Ireland.
Leicester: Tries: Amorosino Conversions: Youngs Penalties: Youngs (5)
Springboks: Tries: Nokwe Penalties: Pienaar (4)
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15 Earl Rose (6) - Not too bad actually - nice play for the first try.
14 Odwa Ndungane (5) - A peripheral figure as the Springboks rarely attacked.
13 Juan de Jongh (5) - Aside from one run anonymous - good defence
12 Wynand Olivier (5) - Solid but had no good ball to work with
11 Jongi Nokwe (5) - Finished try well - but he doesn't look for wark
10 Ruan Pienaar (4) - Unconvincing at best - kicked reasonably well at goal but very poorly in open play - couldn't spark the backline
9 Heini Adams (5) - Average performance behind a poor pack
8 Ashley Johnson (7) - Boks best player carried well, but got turned over a few times
7 Davon Raubenheimer (3) - Didn't do anything of note
6 Dewald Potgieter (5) - Tried hard but had little impact
5 Andries Bekker (5) - A secure lineout target and hard working around the park.
4 Danie Rossouw (6) - Good at lineouts and carried well when given the opportunities, but like Bekker, did little to ease the pressure on his prop.
3 Jannie du Plessis (2) - His worst performance…ever. Got folded at scrum time like he was a rag doll. The second-choice Springbok tighthead prop needs to make exponential improvements at scrum time to avoid being embarrassed in the coming weeks.
2 Chiliboy Ralepelle (6) - When he was on lineouts went fine and the scrums were solid - when he went off they both got worse - he must have been doing something right.
1 Gurthro Steenkamp (1) - Absolutely annihilated in the scrum - he basically sprinted off the pitch to avoid anymore treatment
Subs:
16 Bandise Maku (3) - Lineouts and Scrums suffered when he came on - carried reasonably but clearly out of his depth
17 Heinke van der Merwe (3) (on in the 42nd minute) - Did a bit better in the scrums but they still went backwards.
18 Alistair Hargreaves (4) (on in 59th min) - No notable impact off the bench
19 Jean Deysel (5) (on in 48th minute) - His powerful ball carries troubled the Tigers at times, but he was turned over numerous times
20 Francois Hougaard (6) (on in 53rd minute) - Looked lively - tried to spark some action out of the Boks
21 Meyer Bosman (5) (on in the 63rd minute) - His involvement was limited to a couple of tackles.
22 Riaan Viljoen - Not on long enough to be judged.
Chilliboy, Dup was very average. Kicking was shocking after full CC. Watching that
Was just sad. Pdiv need to stand up against the anc chronies and pick the team he wants.
Can anyone tell me how Viljoen played? And Deysel,Johnson and
Potgieter????We already know the rest of the scrum was junk!!!
I just hope he doesnt make the same mistake when playing Saracens!!!!The French will kill us if this crap selections continue!!!!!!!
How was that Leicester try given?? It was clear obstruction on potgeiter
Ashley Johnson is insanely good!!! And I even have to say that earl rose played really well.. Seriously!! He had a few line breaks and set up nokwes try!!
Wtf pienaar you played terribly as did almost the whole team
I blame PDV and chiliboy, and im not a racist, but i love my nation and my bokke, its my honour in life, but you guys do not deserve to be there, and while your clock is ticking, sommer take earl the pearl with you when you leave!!111
Because that was the most embarrassing thing I've ever seen in my life. Think I might just call in sick for the rest of the year, because I don't know how I'm gonna face these pommies after that.
The best front 3 in SA must be P!ssing them selves laughing as they sat in Bloemfontein watching that ABSOLUTE ABORTION of a scrum.
Disgusting
A pitiful display by the dirt-trackers. They were nowhere to be seen at the breakdown, although the Tigers were helped by Dickinson turning a blind eye to their constant diving over the ruck and spoiling.
I can't say I've ever seen a Bok pack retreating as quickly as they did tonight. Rather embarrassing.
Pienaar once again proved that he is not a flyhalf. He (and everyone else for that matter) kicked aimlessly and made poor tactical choices.
But on the bright side: At least the politicians will be happy. After all, transformation is far more important than winning....
I've watched leicester for the last 20 odd years and i've never heard of some of the guys we had in our pack - they were under 21s away out on loan for experience. we had to call them back to cover our injured/international players and we still took you apart.
having said all that i still have the boks down to destroy all northern hem teams on this tour. you guys have an awesome first team - not much beyond that tho it seems
In the warm up the guys didn't look sharp, Meisiekind dropped the ball.
Just shows you what it does for team morale when you put a bunch of quotas in the team.
I'm really worried about our front row if this is the best they can put forward.
None of these guys even deserve to be on the bench next week.
Nokwe was absolutely lazy, Earl the Pearl hardly tried from the back to defend, Can't say much for the tight five either. Steenkamp was shameful as well as Jannie.
“Our focus is fully on the Leicester match because it is important that we get the tour off to a good start,” said Springbok coach Peter de Villiers.
Look, the same thing happened in the 3rd British and Irish Lions match. It happened in the Tri-Nations against Australia, when SA lost.
If you are not going to be responsible in relation to the results of the Springbok side then you can never accomplish that international respect and domination of the game like the All Blacks have done for so many years. Perfect records.
This has become political. Yes, people earn opportunity to represent the Springboks but do it responsibly for crying out loud. This isn't just a game. Rugby for South Africans is far more than just a game about equal opportunity on the field or the good of the sport or whatever tonight’s joke represented.
It's a way of life man, in the name of being the best.
Our administrators sent our poor guys in for something they were always gonna struggle with. We were way to arrogant.
No unity, no team spirit, no cohesion. we looked like a bunch of strangers on the field. You cannot win a game if you cant scrum and that was a perfectly balanced forward pack.
I don't know when it became law to dive in and seal the ball off like that either or lie all over the place. Dickenson disgraced all referee's tonight, I didn't know you could stand on the oppositions side of the ruck and pull their hair. Absolutely pathetic.
This Bok second stringers have got 11 days to turn it around and they need leadership, someone needs to call them into a huddle and they need to play 80 minutes for the jersey and the guy next to them.
I'm a Sharks boy but Adriaan Strauss needs to be flown in asap, he'll bring the fire, trust me.
Step up to the plate boys.
This has nothing to do with my loyalty, PdV should have taken an entirely different dirt tracker team. Shoulda been
1) Wiaan du Preez
2) Adriaan Strauss
3) WP Nel
4) Danie Russouw
5) Andries Bekker
6) Dewalt Potgieter
7) Duane Vermeulen
8) Ashley Johnson
9) Francios Hougaard
10) Peter Grant
11) Lionel Mapoe
12) Wynand Olivier
13) Jaun de Jongh
14) Gio Aplon
15) Joe Pietersen
16) Wicus Blaaw
17) Tiaan Liebenberg
18) Nico Breedt
19) Jonathan Mokuena
20) Rory (edited)ott
21) Jaques Louis Potgieter
22) Hennie Daniller
Look, you have guys like
Jean De Villier
Frans Steyn
Brad Barritt
Brent Russell
Neil De Kock
Joe Van Niekerk
Marius Joubert
BJ Botha
CJ Vander Linda
Wikus Van Heerden
The top two props would have served us well tonight and I still think our best front rowers.
Sorry to say but I will not support a team that are slapped together like a pancake with a bunch of no-names, has-beens and reserves. To all our international friends on this website please understand, this team is not the best 2nd team available to South Africa.
This was going to be suicide all the way when you pick a no9 at number 10, when you have a captian that cannot even make his provinsial team as a player, a no 12 and 13 that have never played together before, a back three 11,14 and 15 that never played together, a front row that have never played together and I can go on and on and on.
I cannot understand why the selectors cannot choose combinations and players that are on form.
I wonder how much these boykies got paid to play in this game?
It is an absolute disgrace for the Springbok name. If you want to pick a political team please do not brand them under the Springbok, use something like bafana bafana or something because these guys are not Bokke.
I will pull a luke watson on this team and puke on all 15 these jerseys!
We all know there is a massive political agenda to satisfy in South Africa and it undermines the selection of these teams. The politicians simply must be placated.
Government to citizens: "the flogging will continue until the moral improves."
And I also agree with jauk. I do feel like vomiting all over those white jerseys they wore (at least they didn't play in the real Green and Gold).
What a disgrace to all South Africans. I really did expect our scrums to be better. Heinke is a really good prop(perhaps just out of form because he hasn't played since April) and I have never seen Jannie struggle that badly. The Cheetahs or WP front rows would have done much better.
That being said I also agree that it is impossible for a team to play cohesively in just one week. I hope they all perform better against Saracens. For their sake and the pride of the springbok jersey.
How much longer until Pienaar goes and plays in Japan? literally, he was one of the worst on the field. Everything he touched turned to rubbish.
Deysel and Johnson were about the only good players on the field. Think if Johnson continues playing like this he could make it into the 22 for Italy.
polititions dreams lost.You cannot trow together a helter skelter team and expect them to do weel.However ANY SA provincial team in the CC would have beaten The poms!!!!!!!!
I am so mad if I spit fire will proceed forth!Dam!!!!Dam!!!Dam!!
Lions teams would have embarressed your Leicester team!!!
So dont get carried away feeling all puffed up because the racially picked team was so weak that ANY of the SA provincial teams would have beaten them something like a cricket score!
I just HOPE and PRAY that PDV has finally learned that he must pick winning sides no matter what their racial mix amounts to.
They say 3rd time is a charm-he has had his 3!!!He does something as stupid as this again he must be gone!!!
I mean comon... when your teams captain is someone who had played 63 minutes in 15 test matches, that's got to say something.
Reinforces my comments that SA have about 25 world class players, after that it is all downhill.
I mean really Earl Rose, Odwa Ndungane, Ruan Pienaar, Heini Adams, Davon Raubenheimer, Bandise Maku, Chilliboy Rallephele and Gurthro Steenkamp all looked out of their depth last night.
I look forward to the Bokke taking the rest down!
And yeah, Chiliboy has got to be the most inspiring Bok captain I have ever seen. (I would put a puke smilie but there doesn't appear to be one)
Earl Rose (Even he had not a too bad game)
Odwa (his brother played better this year and I don't even rate Akona very highly - where is Mapoe and Juries -even if he is a bit on the old side)
Juan still very green
Ruan is not our second best flyhalf because he is a scrumhalf and will be nothing else. He plays flyhalf like a scrumhalf. Peter Grant would have been a better bet.
Heini Adams (he is not bad (our 8th best scrumhalf), but Sarel Potgieter is better, hell Ruan should have played here)
Davon Raubenheimer still very green (Francois Louw? Deon Stegmann?)
Cilliboy might have a "bright" future, but he is our 5th best hooker Tiaan Liebenberg/Adriaan Strauss should have been chosen for this tour.
Never rated Guthro. He struggled against WP Nel (still in his infancy when it comes to being a prop)in the CC-final.
Thirdly, how much proper training did these guys have?...None!! No one of the support team worried about these guys. Even if the Tigers played with reserve team players, at least they had support from their coaches.
KiwiJoe did you watch the CC-final? The Bulls won because they were lucky not because they played well. All in all this is our third even 4th best team. This was nothing more than a poorly combined 2nd rate CC-team.
we need to pick foreign based players. we need CJ and BJ!!
Pienaar was shocking. Even Earl would have done better at 10 last night.
Bekker, Potgeiter and Johnson played well and de jongh showed he is able to defend well enough to be pushed forward. Anyone who can takle tuilagi has no one else to fear.
It showed the choices at front row are rubbish as predicted and some others should be on their last chance before looking elsewhere. Hard to watch but not a waste of time
P-Divvy you are an idiot for selecting those guys, hopefully you realized your mistakes now.
Yup watched the CC final and the semi they just won too against WP and while you may think they were lucky i think they they had to be there or there abouts to in the end to win and guess what.... they did.
stanui20 i live in auckland and i agree im never getting up early in the morning for a crap team like that
best forward was johnson, best back was olivier because he didnt miss any tackles i dont think. earl rose was actually pretty good i must say, our best attacking back all game.
As for Wynand I have always said he is great at club level but every time he puts a bok jersey on he is sh!t he just can step up to the next level, he got ran over all night and did not make one line brake. Lets not forget Danie who just looked p!ssed off that he had to be there he did not hit one ruck hard. If he doesn’t want to play with the dirt trackers because he is too important and can’t make the first team then retire.
I truly feel for chiliboy he just shouldn’t of been there and now he is injured again, some people should just know when to call it quits.
Ashley Johnson should be given a chance in the boks first team maybe from the bench, but please is there is anyone out there who can tell me when it became ok to pull a guys hair right in front of the ref, if one of the SA guys had done that for sure it would have been tickets but this guy had an amazing game and if looked after could be a great player one day.
But let’s see these guys have 11 days lets see if next game will be better.
The best player on the day was Johnson, whilst Rose, de Jongh, Ndungane and Nokwe were all decent given the cir(edited)stances. Raubenheimer put in a fair amount of work as well. So stop being racists.
Also, Dickinson should be cited.
I think PdeV has been clever - lots of "new" Boks (to appease), but the A team will not be affected too much.You have to live with the times we are in !!! Am looking forward to Croke Park and the Dublin pubs.(Raining in C.Town at the moment)
Explain to me why Chiliboy, with his 64 minutes over 15 test matches was the captain? You can't. Quota captain for a Quota team.
Earl Rose was surprisingly good at the back, Heini adams did incredibly well behind a pathetic pack, Ashley Johnson tried his heart out and was the best SA player on the pitch, Odwa looked for work but never got passed the ball, De Jongh looked very dangerous the few times he got the ball and his tackling was fantastic.
To me, the tight 5 was responsible for the loss, going back at every setpiece and never securing or turning over the ball at the ruck. The support from the forwards was pathetic. Du Plessis was terrible, Maku didn't do much but was one of the most active tight forwards around the park, Gurthro was abysmal, Bekker was useless at the rucks, Danie Rossouw brought nothing to the game, and the flanks had nothing to work with. Most of the forward pack were not "quota" players, but players many of you would have taken had you picked the squad.
Yes, there were some players left out, but the players who didn't step up were not the quotas, but rather the more experienced backup players (pienaar included).
Its pathetic how the coach and quota bashing has already begun. Give it a rest and support the boys. The first string side is still the best in the world, we just need to find the players who can step up for the future.
We have those players shark, they were however left at home.
I have no doubt that if Chilli, Maku, Heini and Raubenheimer weren't players of colour, they wouldn't have made the squad. The point is the players of colour performed pretty well for the most part. It was Jannie, Rossouw, Bekker and Pienaar who were among the bigger disappointments with their lack of cleaning out and general performance.
And don't patronise me by calling me your friend. You don't know my background although you obviously assumed I'm not white cos I defended these players. Get behind the Boks. They are our team.
Karma, I know you've been on this site for a while but if you can genuinely tell me that post-Tri-Nations, everyone was not lauding PDV and eating humble pie, then you must be in denial.
The point is that it is at Bok level unfortunately. We should be getting behind the team regardless. The problem yesterday was also that we only had 4 days prep as Drummer points out.
15. Riaan Viljoen.
14. Francois Hougaard.
13. Juan DeJongh.
12. Wynand Olivier.
11. Jongi Nokwe.
10. Peter Grant.
9. Ruan Pienaar.
8. Ashley Johnson.
7. Jean Deysel.
6. Dewald Potgieter.
5. Andries Bekker.
4. Danie Roussow.
3. Jannie DuPlessis.
2. Tiaan Liebenberg.
1. C.J. VanDerLinde.
16. Heinke VanDerMerwe.
17. Adriaan Strauss.
18. Anton VanZyl.
19. Deon Stegman.
20. Jano Vermaak.
21. Lionel Mapoe.
22. Hennie Danillier.
15. Riaan Viljoen.
14. Francois Hougaard.
13. Juan DeJongh.
12. Wynand Olivier (vc).
11. Jongi Nokwe.
10. Peter Grant.
9. Ruan Pienaar.
8. Ashley Johnson.
7. Jean Deysel.
6. Dewald Potgieter.
5. Andries Bekker.
4. Danie Roussow (c).
3. Jannie DuPlessis.
2. Tiaan Liebenberg.
1. C.J. VanDerLinde.
16. Heinke VanDerMerwe.
17. Adriaan Strauss.
18. Anton VanZyl.
19. Deon Stegman.
20. Jano Vermaak / Sarel Pretorious.
21. Lionel Mapoe.
22. Hennie Danillier.
rossouw, schalk and brussouw? what about johnson, schalk and bussouw. got some options.
that is the worst springbok team to ever play in the green & gold!!!!
i had goosebumps just looking at the team sheet!:
steenkamp(blaauw,wp nel,du preez????)
chilliboy/maku(shocking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
raubenheimer(doesn't do anything!)
can't be bothered to talk about the poor quotas in the backs!
well done ashley johnson and earl rose u both should be in that squad from last night's performance!
ok i exaggerated about rose and i still think he is pretty useless but for once i saw consistency in his play!
we will lose against sarries if we don't send the quota players home!!!....and bring in some form currie cup players!
screw this under-24 bulls**t.....there are plenty of slightly older players who don't make a fool of themselves!
''...To rectify the wrongs of our past...'' - how in the world did a current white South African rugby player do anything wrong to any Black citizen of South Africa in the 70's and 80's? I do not see why someone has to pay for something someone else did wrong and that while playing rugby? That is why transformation and quota is racism. Understand? E?
No one hears the words quota on Currie cup levels anymore because you get fired if you use those words or you get to chat with Desmond Tutu!
If Dick Muir was the coach of this team the supporters will also be upset, just like when White was in charge, and Strauli, and Mallet and so on... so Luway, it has nothing to do with colour boet its performance, we did not win, the coach whatever colour he is screwed up, so dont be racist.
Secondly how can someone like chilliboy be a captain of a Springbok team when he cannot even make his damn provincial team, how can heini adams be a Springbok when he is a second choice scrumhalf for his province? How can Maku be in this team, same story? And you tell us that there's nothing wrong. How can a guy like Danie Rossouw now all of a sudden listen to Chilliboy his captain when at the Bulls, chilli does not even make the bloody team? There is no way in hell that a guy like Danie Rossouw will have any rugby respect for Chilli.
Yes players like Rose , played well but how well do you think a guy like Joe Pietersen would have played? And it isnt like Rose has been putting in great performances game after game? Isnt that the way you are suppose to become a Springbok?
Why should quota be done on lower levels of rugby, why should quota even exist - because some people dont have the drive and effort that it takes to become the best, now you put a system in place to baby them? You have to pick the BEST, thats it! And I dont think that if players like Heini, Chilli, maku and company where white they would make the squad, they will not be picked because there are better players out there.FACT!
Chester Williams was the best he was picked, habana was the best he was picked, Paulse was the best he was picked - it is about picking the best guy for the job. Allot of people in SA fall into a job and team not because they are the best but because they are the right colour.Fact!
And Shark the problem is not that the quota players did not perform the fact is that they are not the best players in their positions at the moment. Motivation will surely be lacking if you know the team that you are playing in is an experiment.
Please dont brand this 2nd third or fourth team the Springboks because they are not. Call this team the protea turtles or something...
And Luway instead of us getting out of the country why dont you get the hell off this website. The Springboks is a winning culture not charity.
"Might be the end of the mighty springboks..."
What drugs are you taking man! But, i hope you feel better after your little rant...
And Luway, don't be so defensive MY FRIEND. I don't support players who shouldn't be there in the first place.
The only thing that looked good good about the team was the jerseys.
Chiliboy(quota captain)Ralepelle ...Bottled out and suddenly discovered that he had an injured foot. I have seen better players in second xv high school teams, but as we know....
I have to say Im bitterly disappointed with PDV for all his talk on selection on merit he has made sure the Brothers are there in force. Sasuperman is your love affair with him over after the breaking of your heart???
Ruan Pienaar is a running fly-half as Honniball was if you want him in a starting xv you need another kicker ie Joe Pietersen
What really annoys me is all the emails I recieved from chaps in the uk stating that they "have humbled the world champs" now it doesnt matter that this was the dirt trackers (who arent awarded bok colours) the perception (as we all know it doesnt matter what the truth is perception is real to people) is that the world champions lost to a club side.
The record books will reflect this for all time
well done PDV for devalueing the bok jersey, you did a better job than Luke Watson
I'm always going to back the Boks, I'm also bleak about
it but give it a rest now...thanks for quoting your oupa. Cute
If matched like this help to sort out those who can and those who cannot it will all help in the world cup and tri nations.
If Jannie du Plessis was black he'd have been called a quota. Same with Pienaar, Rossouw and Bekker. But somehow it was Chilliboy's, Maku's, Raubenheimer, De Jongh's, Akona's and Rose's fault. Right. Forget the fact that they all had okay games in comparison to Jannie and co.
Go watch the game, before you come on here and make a fool of yourself. You are an insult to the human race.
ThyBulle, let me guess, you only support the Boks when they win.
USAoudBok. Glad you've left. Gurthro gets singled out cos of his colour. Never mind Jannie and Heinke who also got killed in the scrums. It's called racism. Don't deny it.
ment with chiliboy sasuperman everyone but you seemed to know he was going to fail and not up to the task
You never go into a fight thinking you're going to lose.
You will learn that when you're older
ThyBulle, I bet you supported Jorrie when he played. Even though he didn't deserve to be there. Only thing was he was the correct race for you.
Why don’t you get on your gravy train, take your silver spoon with you and .... off!
At least guys like bekker, rossouw, du plessis and pienaar deserved their places with actually playing and putting in good performances over and over again in Currie cup and Springbok rugby you fool.
You will probably support Queen Victoria if she put on a Springbok jersey!
No one is even saying that it's about the missing international players - the main complaint is about players chosen who don't deserve to be there.
Jauk, I would supported the Queen if she put on a bok jersey, but that's just getting silly
This half there half here is so stupid and lazy, sure play the unexperinced players in the midweek games but at least their team mates can be in the same bladdy country!!!
My biggest problem however, was that the team looked a bit leaderless and lost. All the effort was by individuals. The guys did NOT gel and no-one took responsibility of pulling the guys together. The body language was difficult to watch and we lost the game looooong before the final whistle. Almost stole it back at the end thanks to Hougaard and Deysel with some aggressive attacking.
I thought Olivier and Rose (believe it or not) did quite well. Rose looked sharp and did well under the high ball. He did however launch some crap kicks at touch that never made it there.
We got crushed in the scrum, wake up and pick the Cheetahs front row!!!
Only players that showed some potentail were Johnson,Potgieter & Hougaard...
Ruan is not a 10...in fact he should go on holiday, take a rest and learn the basics like passing a rugby ball...cost the sharks the semi as well with that (edited) pass!
The backline never saw the ball with Adams & Pienaar just kicked everything away!
I hope Muir and the rest of the coaching staff give them hell this week at training! WAKE UP!!!
We have too many players who should have been leading and supporting our team, and in all honesty the most enthusiastic player on the field was Francois Hougaard.
From this game alone I see three future 1st team boks: Johnson, Hougaard and De Jongh. The rest will fade away into Super 14 and the Currie Cup.
"ah legend, how old are you? Let me get straight to the point (because you bore me) Chilliboy is a very good player (when he is playing and not injured) it's not his fault he's chosen"
I think you are being somewhat condescending, what has Legendkillers age got to do with Chiliboy not being Springbok material?, he might be a good player, but is he world class? Most definitely not...
To choose a player for the Bok team because of his race is blatantly unfair, not only to the player, but to the team, the supporters and the game itself.One does not right the injustices of the past by creating injustices now.
You say its not Ralepele's fault he was chosen, you are correct, however is it correct for somebody to accept a Bok place when he knows that he is not up to the job? I dont think so,if he knows himself that he is a quota Bok (like Watson was)he is in fact perpetuating the myth that he cannot succeed on his own merit, and must rely on his race,politics and political correctness (take your pick)to succeed, unlike Habana, Willemse,Pietersen etc.
With all due respect to Ralepele,he has not got the God-given talent the players mentioned above has, he might be good, but that is relative to what he is being compared to, is he a Super 14 or Currie Cup first choice?, most definitely not, yet he is chosen to lead the Bok dirt trackers ! Sheesh !!!
That he is an average player is beyond doubt,and that is all he is,and that is the heart of the matter, the fact that he is not white has nothing to do with the fact that he is not up to the task.
People should rather celebrate players like Ashwin Willemse, who despite the fact that he came from a poor background, and subsequently got involved in gang cultures decided that he wanted to play Rugby and eventually became a Bok, instead of looking for excuses for quota Boks and those who keep Coloured (and here I include the whole spectrum who are so quaintly described as "previously disadvantaged")people shackled by the notion that we cant do anything for ourselves unless we get a helping hand or special rules are applied to us. Let us be MEN and fight our own battles ! We dont need need handouts !!!
racial crap!!!!